U.S. Ambassador Robin Raphel Gives Update on Tunisia

By Delinda C. Hanley

U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia Robin Raphel opened the American-Tunisian Association’s annual spring lecture series at Meridian House in Washington, DC on March 4 with a briefing on recent developments in Tunisia which, she said, “has been a steady friend in an unsteady region for a long time.”

Raphel told the large audience that Tunisia has provided “sound, sage advice at key moments in the Middle East peace process.” She welcomed Tunisian participation, beginning in January, on the U.N. Security Council, and Tunisia’s moderating role in dealing with economic and political issues in the Arab countries and beyond in the Islamic world. The ambassador also said the United States benefits from the military cooperation between the two countries, as Tunisia allows U.S. military exercises more often than any other country in North Africa.

Americans are impressed by Tunisia’s efforts to liberalize and reform its economy, Raphel said, thereby making it more attractive to international investors. She noted that the latest multilateral step to encourage economic investment opportunities abroad is the Eizenstat initiative, named for U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economics, Business and Agricultural Affairs Stuart Eizenstat. Recognizing economic opportunities for investment between the U.S. and Tunisia, she said, the Eizenstat initiative will bring about greater liberalization of trade, lower tariffs, and make it more attractive to open new factories in Tunisia to supply goods to all North African and Arab states.

“There is a real effort in the State Department to focus on this bilateral relationship,” Ambassador Raphel emphasized. She announced also that U.S. First Lady Hillary Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, will soon visit Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco. While in Tunisia Mrs. Clinton will focus on the country’s remarkable social progress of the last decades, particularly in the rights of women.

Later in 1999 President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali will visit Washington, DC. Among the topics to be discussed will be the U.S.-Tunisia joint military exercise program and bilateral friendship, and the U.S. government’s $2 million military assistance and $5 million in draw-down authority to Tunisia which, after a suspension of five years, will now be restored. Raphel said the visits will underscore continuing mutual interest in an old friendship.

Ambassador Raphel described the very crucial Tunisian election scheduled for mid-November of 1999. “For the first time there will be an opposition candidate running for president,” Raphel says. “The government has guaranteed 20 percent of parliamentary seats to opposition candidates. This shows that the Tunisian government is committed to democratization and is taking concrete and steady steps.”

There is only one cloud on the Tunisian horizon, Raphel said, and that is the country’s unemployment rate of 15 to 16 percent. The Tunisian government is trying to open the economy, increase privatization, attract foreign investment, streamline the government, and, in the next decade, increase trade and abolish tariffs with the European Union.

Tunisia is joining the world economy, Raphel pointed out, not fighting globalization, but this may cause some short-term economic pain. Tunisian political progress depends upon pocketbook issues, she said, so if Tunisia can continue to show long-term economic progress, the country should be able to weather some short-term economic dislocation.

She noted that Tunisia is trying to create jobs in imaginative ways such as its Solidarity Bank’s micro-loans. However, there is concern that these changes aren’t occurring rapidly enough, and there have been scattered factory strikes and student demonstrations.

Graduating students are worried about finding good jobs, Raphel said, pointing out that Tunisia’s educational investments in its human capital have resulted in articulate graduates who, unfortunately, often have to go abroad to find employment while they wait for the economy to expand in their own country.

Speaking about the latest U.S. State Department Human Rights report on Tunisia, Ambassador Raphel says Tunisia focuses on eliminating negative threats to human rights, including poverty, illiteracy, discrimination against women, and child labor. The U.S. still would like to see such positive human rights as free expression and tolerance of political dissent accelerated.

In regard to foreign policy commonalities, Raphel said, “We share the same goals for the region: stability, predictability, and democratization. We agree we’d like Tunisia’s neighbors to be more stable.”

Efforts to rekindle a regional grouping with the creation of a Maghreb-Arab Union haven’t really taken off, Raphel said. Trade barriers between Tunisia and Morocco may be eased in the wake of the Tunisian president’s March visit to Morocco, Raphel noted, but there is not much Tunisian interaction with Algeria. She suggested that this is because when Tunisians look across their border to Algeria, they see how quickly liberalization can get out of control, and conclude that change should come more slowly to Tunisia. As for Libya, where 60,000 Tunisians earn their living, Tunisia has a lot of tolerance for Libya’s unpredictable regime because there is little violence there, unlike the situation in Algeria.

Tunisia always has been in the forefront of the Middle East peace process, Raphel said. Tunisians believe their national interests are served through Arab-Israeli peace, and they have worked quietly and consistently toward that goal.

“In regard to Iraq, we haven’t agreed 100 percent how to solve the problem,” Raphel continued. “Tunisia feels the sanctions are too harsh, and the coalition bombing has caused people to suffer, but we both agree on the overall goal.”

Ambasador Raphel concluded her remarks by looking forward to President Ben Ali’s upcoming visit to the United States. “We are trying to strengthen the fabric between our two countries so when we do want their help, we’ll already have in place the relationship and personal ties,” she explained.